KMXG (96.1 FM, "Mix 96") is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

licensed A license (American English) or licence (Commonwealth English) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another part ...

Clinton, Iowa Clinton is a city in and the county seat of Clinton County, Iowa, United States. It borders the Mississippi River. The population was 24,469 as of 2020 United States census, 2020. Clinton, along with DeWitt, Iowa, DeWitt (also located in Clinto ...

, and serving the

Quad Cities The Quad Cities is a region of five cities (originally Tri-Cities, later four, see #History, History) in the U.S. states of Iowa and Illinois: Davenport, Iowa, Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa, Bettendorf (the fifth to be included) in southeaster ...

area of

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

and

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. It broadcasts an

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when Radio broadcasting, ...

, switching to

Christmas music Christmas music comprises a variety of Music genre, genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas and holiday season, Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or in the case of Christmas ...

from mid-November until the

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

holidays. KMXG is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc., with

studio A studio is a space set aside for creative work of any kind, including art, dance, music and theater. The word ''studio'' is derived from the , from , from ''studere'', meaning to study or zeal. Types Art The studio of any artist, esp ...

s and offices in

Davenport, Iowa Davenport ( ) is a city in Scott County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. It is situated along the Mississippi River on the eastern border of the state. Davenport had a population of 101,724 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 cen ...

, along with co-owned KUUL-FM,

WLLR-FM WLLR-FM (103.7 Hertz, MHz) is a radio station licensed to Davenport, Iowa, United States, whose format is modern country music. The station broadcasts at a power of 100 kW. WLLR is owned by iHeartMedia, with studios located in Davenport. ...

, KCQQ-FM, WFXN and WOC. The station has an

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(ERP) of 100,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

s, and their

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...

is located off 225th Street in rural LeClaire in Scott County.

History

Early history (1947–1986)

KMXG originally had studios in Clinton and was co-owned with KROS (1340 AM). At that time, 96.1 had the call letters KROS-FM and later KSAY. During its run as KROS-FM, the station

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...

the AM signal initially, and later aired a beautiful music format, with quarter hour sweeps of instrumental

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

s of popular songs. During its years in Clinton, KSAY operated as a religious station serving primarily the Gateway area (Clinton and Jackson counties in Iowa; Whiteside and Carroll in Illinois) from 1974 until 1986. During this time, a February 1985 fire that struck the building where the studios for KSAY and KROS were located knocked the station off the air for several days; when the station returned to the air in a new studio, the first program was a two-hour show devoted to the fire and volunteers that helped get KROS-KSAY back on the air.

Adult contemporary era (1986–present)

Upon 96.1 FM's move to the Quad Cities, the station was known as KLIO-FM (K-Lite) and aired adult contemporary music. The call letters changed several years later to KMJC ("Magic 96") in November 1989 before adopting the current KMXG ("Mix 96") call sign in July 1993."Mix 96 FM will hit the Q-C air starting today", ''The Quad-City Times'', April 16, 1993. Starting in 2008, during the holiday season, KMXG switches to an all-holiday music format.

Weekend programming

Sometime during the 2000s, KMXG began programming a "retro Saturday" block of music, focusing on hits of the 1980s with some hits from the 1970s and early 1990s mixed in. Syndicated programming added included '' Backtrax USA'' (both the 1980s and 1990s versions), ''Retro Pop Reunion'' and '' American Top 40: The 80s''. With the demise of KUUL-FM's oldies format in 2012, several of KUUL's former programs were added to KMXG's weekend lineup, including ''American Top 40: The 70s'', '' Into the 70s with John Landecker'' and ''The 70s with Steve Goddard''. As such, Saturdays are devoted to 1980s and 1990s music, while Sundays feature music of the 1970s. For nearly two years, until format changes to classic hits and adult hits at WYEC and KQCS, respectively, KMXG's weekend programming was the only regularly scheduled classic hits radio programming, featuring music of the 1970s through 1990s, available in the Quad-Cities market. Continuing on Sundays were two three-hour blocks of

smooth jazz Smooth jazz is commercially oriented crossover jazz music. Although often described as a "genre", it is a debatable and highly controversial subject in jazz music circles. As a radio format, however, smooth jazz radio became the successor to e ...

music: "Jazz Patio" and "Smooth Jazz Sunday Night", both hosted by Art Monroe. Jazz music has been a staple of 96.1 FM since at least its incarnation as KLIO, with different hosts through the years.

References

External links

Mix 96 KMXG official website
{{IHeartMedia Mainstream adult contemporary radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1947 Radio stations in the Quad Cities Clinton, Iowa 1947 establishments in Iowa IHeartMedia radio stations